Portland Mayor Sam Adams remained out of the public eye as City Hall work went on without him Thursday, but he said Portlanders should expect a decision "within days" about whether he'll resign or fight for his job.

He spent the day on "discussions of a personal nature" with people such as his pastor and his mentor, former Mayor Vera Katz.

"It's important I learn the lessons that need to be learned, regardless of what I decide," Adams said. "That's what I'm talking to folks about right now. Clearly, tell the truth no matter what is one of those. These people I talked with today were blunt. They were brutally honest.

"I need to do more of the hard work before I decide," he said. "I'm not going to be able to sit down with everyone in the city, but I want to have as many conversations as possible. I'm going to be making a decision soon. I'm not going to keep people waiting."

With support from big-name backers and a longtime colleague who had remained silent up to now, Adams seemed to gather momentum in the court of public opinion for the first time since he admitted earlier this week that he had sex with a teenager when he was a city commissioner.

Adams, 45, said Monday he had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old legislative intern in 2005 but lied about it and persuaded the young man to lie about it, too, in 2007 as he began his campaign for mayor.

At the request of local authorities, the state attorney general's office has opened a criminal investigation of Adams, who said he's hired a lawyer.

The City Council met Thursday for the first time since the scandal broke, and councilors seemed relieved to get down to some business that didn't involve answering questions about whether Adams should stay or resign.

Though television news crews staked out the chamber and a handful of demonstrators -- for and against Adams -- paraded outside, only a small audience gathered, and no one mentioned Adams at the short meeting.

Demonstrators gather at Portland City Hall

The mayor's seat remained empty; he had planned to be out of town anyway and wasn't scheduled to attend the meeting. He said he has kept away from City Hall to avoid creating a distraction, but his absence didn't do anything to stop the speculation about his fate.

"It just feels heavy around here," said Ty Kovatch, Commissioner Randy Leonard's chief of staff. "Work is getting done, but it feels like pushing through thick mud."

Publicly, Adams staffers said it was business as usual at their office -- "There's just too much work to do," said spokesman Wade Nkrumah -- but they remained mostly out of the loop about Adams' plans. Privately, some are worried about their jobs and the future of Adams' broad agenda.

"Shot at redemption"

Commissioner Dan Saltzman was concerned about Adams' economic stimulus and green initiatives, but in his first comments about Adams, he said he thought Portlanders might forgive him.

If the mayor resigns

The City Council can call for a special election within 90 days of a resignation. Two election dates are selected, no more than 45 days apart. The second would be for a runoff if no candidate received a majority in the first election.

The city charter calls for the president of the council, currently Commissioner Randy Leonard, to preside over council meetings in the mayor's absence and to wield the mayor's powers in an emergency.

But the charter doesn't appear to provide an interim method for the other powers and duties of the mayor, such as assigning responsibility for city bureaus to commissioners.

"We'd have to get a bunch of lawyers in a room and figure it out," Auditor Gary Blackmer said.
"The auditor doesn't want them, you can quote me on that."

-- James Mayer

"I think Portlanders would be willing to give him a shot at redemption," said Saltzman, who just returned from a vacation at the coast.

Saltzman said he's reserving judgment about the mayor until the state completes its investigation but he wants Adams back at work.

"Not only is it good symbolism, but it would be good for him psychologically at this point," he said.

Rick Christman said he was trying to assemble a coalition of citizen groups to gather at 10 a.m. at City Hall to call on Adams to resign. Christman said he hopes to have daily rallies until the mayor leaves office.

A group of supporters planned to gather at 5:30 p.m. today, and Thomas Lauderdale, frontman for the band Pink Martini, also is organizing a rally for Adams but hasn't said when it is.

Lauderdale said film director Gus Van Sant, who like Lauderdale is gay and lives in Portland, also would appear.

"Ultimately, I think that what needs to happen is the city needs to calm down," Lauderdale said. "The city needs to calm down, and we need to concentrate on the heavy agenda, which is before us as a city. These sex scandals are a huge, colossal waste of time and resources."

Gala will go on

A Facebook group, Support Sam Adams, has more than 900 members. A pro-Adams site -- Samisstillmymayor.blogspot.com -- is up and running as is an anti-Adams site, RecallSamAdams.com.

Adams said he's received hundreds of text messages, most urging him to stay at City Hall. But the decision he's trying to make goes beyond sheer numbers.

"This is about what is in the best interest of the city," he said. "Can I be a part of that? How do I fit into that?"

Organizers of a fundraiser to honor Adams and celebrate his ascendancy to the city's top job decided he no longer fit into their event. They changed the name from the Mayor's Winter Gala to the Winter Gala and refocused it as a broad celebration of Portland.

It will still benefit the Q Center, a nonprofit group that supports the area's gay community. The gala is the first for the 5-year-old center and is expected to raise $80,000, said executive director Kendall Clawson.

The center had discussions with Adams's staff about whether to cancel but decided the event was coming up too soon to reschedule, Clawson said.

In his only public act of the day, Adams released a statement urging people to attend

"The Winter Gala is an important part of making Q Center's work possible in the community," he said. "I wholeheartedly endorse this broad celebration of Portland."

-- Noelle Crombie and Lisa Grace Lednicer of The Oregonian contributed to this report.